TV Review: The Walking Dead Season Five Episode Three “Four Walls and a Roof”

by Sherry LippWARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

We have our first main character death of the season on The Walking Dead. It’s not a complete

surprise after last week, but honestly I thought maybe they were going to drag that out longer. One thing that can be said about season five so far is that they are not dwelling on anything very long. I’m glad to see the show is staying inventive in its story lines. We say goodbye to Bob (Lawrence Gilliard Jr.). As far as the main cast goes, he’s probably one of the most expendable so it’s hard to say he will be all that missed. Overall, I really thought this episode did a good job in keeping up the tension and moving the story in new directions. I’m especially looking forward to see what goes on with Abraham’s (Michael Cudlitz) bus crew and what is up with Daryl (Norman Reedus).

Let’s get to what was cool and not so cool about “Four Walls and a Roof.”

The cool:

Slaughtering the Terminus crew – No need to worry about this storyline going on indefinitely. The cannibals deservedly had their heads smashed in when Rick turned the tables on them. The effectively tense scene in the church also reminded us how good The Walking Dead can be at creating classic horror moments.

The journey to D.C. begins – I thought they might keep making excuses about why they can’t go to D.C. just yet, but to my surprise Abraham, Rosita (Christian Serratos), Eugene (Josh McDermitt), Maggie (Lauren Cohan), Glenn (Steven Yeun), and Tara (Alanna Masterson) boarded a bus and parted ways with Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Carl (Chandler Riggs), Michonne (Danai Gurira), Tyreese (Chad L. Coleman), Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green), Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam), and baby Judith. They all stayed behind to wait for Carol (Melissa McBride) and Daryl to return. There’s still no mention of Beth (Emily Kinney) from Maggie. I guess Maggie might think her sister is dead, but you’d think Daryl would have said she was taken.

Daryl’s mysterious reappearance in the woods – That was unexpected and just plain weird. Was it just me or did Daryl seem like a different person? Who was he calling to in the woods? Was it Carol or someone else completely? What could have happened to them in such a short amount of time? It’s hard to say.

The not so cool:

Father Gabriel’s confession – So Father Gabriel hates himself because he locked the doors and hid in his church while his congregation was eaten by walkers. That’s bad, but far from the worst thing we’ve heard of people doing on this show. I only put this in the not so cool category if that’s all there is to it, but I’m betting (hoping, at least) there’s a lot more to it.

The “tainted meat” – This was cool, but unfortunately it didn’t go anywhere. As Gareth (Andrew J. West) and crew munched on Bob’s leg he revealed that he had been bitten much to their great dismay. Even though everyone is already infected people don’t turn into walkers unless they die. What happens if you eat inflected flesh? I guess for now we won’t know.

There’s a lot of unanswered questions so far. It looks like we will finally get to see what’s become of Beth in the next episode.